Guidance

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office and Home Office privacy notice: Forced Marriage Unit (FMU)

Updated 31 May 2022

1. Who we are

Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO) 
King Charles Street 
London 
SW1A 2AH 

Email: Data.Protection@fcdo.gov.uk

Home Office (HO) 
2 Marsham Street 
London 
SW1P 4DF 

Email: dpo@homeoffice.gov.uk

2. What is the FMU

The FMU was set up in 2005 as a joint HO-FCDO unit in recognition of the fact that forced marriage is an abuse that cuts across jurisdictions, and acts as the hub for advice, outreach and policy relating to forced marriage.

3. What data we process and why

The FMU provides information and support to victims and potential victims of forced marriage in the UK – and to British nationals overseas, including dual nationals - and to professionals (most commonly police officers and social workers, education professionals and sometimes NGOs) working to safeguard them.

It does this through:

• a telephone helpline and
• an email inbox

Through the helpline and email inbox FMU collects data relating to victims and potential victims of forced marriage. This includes in particular a person’s:

• name
• address
• contact details including mobile phone numbers, email addresses, and social media profiles
• date and place of birth
• passport number
• gender
• nationality
• in the course of providing assistance to a victim or potential victim of forced marriage, the FMU may also collect relevant data about other family members, including siblings, parents, and extended family, their prospective spouse, and, where concerns are reported by a third-party, details of the individual reporting a concern
• the country where the forced marriage is due to happen

4. Legal basis for the processing

The lawful basis for processing personal data by the FCDO and HO is that it is necessary to do so in order to perform their official functions as the FMU such that Article 6(1)(e) of the GDPR applies.

5. Special category and criminal data

Special category data may also be processed including:

• (if proactively disclosed) sexual orientation
• (if proactively disclosed) disability

Due to the nature of their work the FMU may also occasionally process criminal data including information concerning alleged criminality.

6. Additional condition for the processing of special category data

The processing of special category data requires an additional legitimising processing condition under Article 9 of the GDPR to be met to ensure lawful processing.

In this regard where special category data is processed this is done on the basis that it is necessary for reasons of substantial public interest under Article 9(2)(g) in connection with the exercise of the official functions of the FCDO and HO (paragraph 6 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018) or for preventing or detecting unlawful acts (paragraph 10, Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018) or safeguarding of children and individuals at risk (paragraph 18, Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018)

In a relatively small number of cases the special category data will be processed on the basis that it is necessary to protect the vital interests of the data subject (Article 9(2)(c) GDPR).

7. Additional condition for the processing of criminal data

Where criminal data is processed this is done on the basis that it is necessary in connection with the exercise of the official functions of the FCDO and HO and is in the substantial public interest (paragraph 6 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018), on the basis that it is necessary for preventing or detecting unlawful acts (paragraph 10 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018) or because it is necessary for safeguarding children and individuals at risk (paragraph 18 of Part 2 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018).

In a relatively small number of cases it may be done on the basis that it is necessary in order to protect the vital interests of an individual and the data subject is physically or legally incapable of giving consent (paragraph 30, Part 3 of Schedule 1 of the DPA 2018).

8. Security of your data

We take data security very seriously and we take every step to ensure that your data remains private and secure. We use SSL in order to encrypt all data transferred to and received from our server.

9. Data sharing between the FCDO and HO

Personal data is shared between the FCDO and the HO as part of running the FMU.

There is a need to share this data because FMU is a joint unit. This joint access to data helps to ensure effective decision-making and safeguarding of individuals. The overall benefit of such sharing is to provide a better service to the victims and potential victims of forced marriage and professionals, and to improve the safeguarding response.

All such data is shared securely.

10. Data sharing with third parties

FMU may share data on a case by case basis with the following organisations:

• Police and social services in the case of minors at risk of forced marriage and in relation to adults when required, either with consent or if there is an imminent risk of harm to their life or when one of the other lawful bases set out above applies
• parts of the Home Office which deal with the processing of immigration applications. FMU shares data when there are concerns that an individual who is the victim of forced marriage may be unwillingly sponsoring a visa application. Those parts of the Home Office may send data to FMU when it has such concerns about a sponsor, and FMU may share data in return to either confirm or refute the suspicions
• relevant NGOs/funded partners to allow them to offer specialist services
• when a victim of forced marriage is overseas and consents to a referral to an NGO or other local organisation / provider who can offer safe accommodation or other services in that country. Sharing information allows the provider to contact the victim to offer assistance and organise logistics

Where such sharing takes place it is pursuant to one of the lawful bases set out above.

11. Client feedback

The FMU also asks that those who make contact with it who are calling in their capacity as a member of a statutory or other professional organisation (e.g. police officers, social workers, NGO staff) to complete (following the closure of their case) a short survey about their experience of contacting the FMU, to enable continuous improvement. No personal data is collected through this process, and completion is voluntary.

12. Published statistics

FMU also publishes annual anonymised statistics on the cases which it has dealt with and sometimes provides high-level anonymised data to the police and others on the nature of the cases which it has dealt with.

13. How long data are retained

We will retain your personal data for as long as necessary to fulfil the purposes we collected it for, including for the purposes of satisfying any legal or reporting requirements. Details of retention periods for different aspects of your personal information are in our retention policy. To determine the appropriate retention period for personal data, we consider the amount, nature, and sensitivity of the personal data, the potential risk of harm from unauthorised use or disclosure of your personal data, the purposes for which we process your personal data and whether we can achieve those purposes through other means, and the applicable legal requirements.

In some circumstances we will anonymise your personal information so that it can no longer be associated with you, in which case we will use such information without further notice to you.

14. Your rights

You have the right:

• to object to the processing of your data (ie. to request that your data is not processed for certain purposes) where we process it on the basis that it is necessary for the exercise of our official functions
• of erasure: in certain circumstances you are entitled to request that your personal data is erased where one of the statutory grounds applies
• of data portability: the right to obtain and reuse your personal data for your own purposes across different services in certain circumstances
• to restrict processing: request that the processing of your personal data is restricted in certain circumstances – for example, where accuracy is contested
• of rectification: request that any inaccuracies in your personal data are rectified without delay. Request that any incomplete personal data is completed, including by means of a supplementary statement
• of access: request information about how your personal data is processed and to request a copy of that personal data

15. How to contact us

If you have any questions about anything in this notice, or if you consider that your personal data has been misused or mishandled, or if you would like to exercise any of your rights, you can contact the Data Protection Officer at the Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office:

Data Protection Officer
Information and Digital Directorate
Room WHG.127
Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office
King Charles Street
London
SW1A 2AH

Email: Data.Protection@fcdo.gov.uk

Tel: 020 7008 5000

Or you can contact the Data Protection Officer at the Home Office:

Office of the DPO
Home Office
Peel Building
2 Marsham Street
London
SW1P 4DF

Email: dpo@homeoffice.gov.uk

16. Complaints

You may also make a complaint to the Information Commissioner, who is an independent regulator. The Information Commissioner can be contacted at:

Information Commissioner's Office
Wycliffe House
Water Lane
Wilmslow
Cheshire
SK9 5AF

Email: casework@ico.org.uk

Tel: 0303 123 1113

17. Changes to this notice

We may modify or amend this privacy notice at our discretion at any time. When we make changes to this notice, we will amend the last modified data at the top of this page. Any modification or amendment to this privacy notice will be applied to you and your data as of that revision date.